Russia’s coach had an odd demand after his sides 3-0 loss

Colombia Fans Comfort a Devastated Young Poland Fan After Team's Elimination From World Cup0:30

A heartwarming moment came out of the June 24 World Cup game between Poland and Colombia when a heartbroken young fan was comforted by the crowd. Iain Meiklejohn shared footage on his Twitter page of the moment his son, Aleks, burst in to tears over Poland’s loss. “Wee man was in tears after Poland getting eliminated from the World Cup,” he tweeted, “The Colombian fans were absolutely fantastic with him after the game – easily the best group of supporters I’ve ever sat with.” The Colombia fans in the crowd can be seen patting the boy on the head and chanting “Polska” to comfort him. Meiklejohn shared a photo of his son looking a bit more upbeat the next day. As of writing, the touching moment has over 3,000 retweets on Twitter. Credit: Iwona Meiklejohn via Storyful

June 25th 2018

a year ago

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Russia head coach Stanislav Cherchesov thought he deserved a round of applause.Source:AP

THE euphoria surrounding Russia’s national team at the World Cup has been brought back down to earth.

After beating Saudi Arabia and Egypt to reach the knockout stages for the first time since the Soviet era, the host’s limitations were painfully evident in Monday’s 3-0 loss to Uruguay.

The Russian eagle’s wings have been clipped. Uruguay scored all its goals from set pieces, something Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov said he’d planned to counteract. His players just couldn’t execute the plan.

“We knew it and we prepared for it, but we didn’t manage to cope with it,” he said.

After the whistle, midfielder Roman Zobnin collapsed on the field. Defender Ilya Kutepov stayed as both teams headed for the dressing room, waving to the Russian fans and shrugging.

Russians’ emotions have soared and plunged during the World Cup, and their music reflects that.

A song by comedian Semyon Slepakov went viral just before the tournament, poking fun at Russia’s poor form and suggesting players needed Chechnya’s authoritarian leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, as coach for extra motivation.

Russia exceeded those rock-bottom expectations by beating Saudi Arabia and Egypt. As fans partied on the streets near the Kremlin, Slepakov changed his tune.

Russian coach Stanislav Cherchesov asked the media at the conclusion of his post match press conference ‘why no applause?’ before starting to clap himself and basically forcing everyone to clap along. Weird guy. #SBSTheWorldGame#URURUS

Instead of either song, Russian fans in Samara started Monday’s second half at 2-0 down with the traditional complaint “We need a goal.”

In a stadium whose soaring roof was designed to evoke the majesty of space exploration, Russia failed to launch.

Squad depth was a problem. Alexander Golovin had been the team’s creative spark in midfield, but he was rested since another yellow card for him would have meant a one-game ban. His replacement, Alexei Miranchuk, was all but invisible, squeezed out of the game by Uruguay’s midfield.

Russia also swapped in fullbacks Fyodor Kudryashov and Igor Smolnikov and they struggled badly. Smolnikov tried to make his mark on Uruguay with crunching tackles, but that just brought two yellow cards and a sending-off in the 36th minute.

On the left, Kudryashov was often left exposed by Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez’s feints. Uruguay registered 17 shots to Russia’s three.

Captain and goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev has long had a reputation for mistakes under pressure in high-profile games — notably fumbling a goal against South Korea four years ago — and was slow to react to both of Uruguay’s first-half goals.

Stanislav Cherchesov with one of the more bizarre press-conference moments.Source:AFP

The weather was against the Russians, too.

In their wins over Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Russia’s midfielders ran further and harder than almost anyone else at the World Cup.

That’s difficult to do for a third straight game, and even harder in Samara’s baking summer heat.

After all the euphoria, forward Artyom Dzyuba suggested it might even be positive for Russia to get “a smack” from Uruguay before the knockout stages.

As well as a wake-up call, defeat to Uruguay could leave Russia with favourable conditions for the round of 16.

Finishing second in Group A gives Russia a game July 1 at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium, where it demolished Saudi Arabia 5-0, while Uruguay will have to play in the searing heat at the beach resort of Sochi.

“The only plus is that we’ll play at Luzhniki,” Cherchesov said. “Luzhniki is my stadium.”